"The earliest practice in writing proper for children of seven or eight should be, not letter writing or dictation, but transcription, slow and beautiful work... Transcription should be an introduction to spelling. Children should be encouraged to look at the word, see a picture of it with their eyes shut, and then write from memory." v1 p239

Dictation:

"Here the object aimed at is to let the child get a correct picture of the word, and the passages to be dictated (not words without their context) are therefore carefully prepared, so that no misspelt word shall leave its impress on the brain."Mrs. Franklin

Would you like to submit related photos or art to the upcoming carnival? In keeping with the theme, I'd love to use other CMer's things, if your items are chosen, full credit will be given. If you are interested, please send an e-mail to: charlottemasonblogs (at) gmail (dot) com.

Can I just say that I didn't really believe that narrating, dictation and copywork were enough to teach my kids how to write? Well, it's true. I had my serious doubts in the beginning. I admit it... until somewhat recently, I always supplemented.

Don't get me wrong, we have always narrated. We started copywork and studied dictation at the corresponding appropriate ages. But I didn't believe. I didn't really think that could possibly be all.

Well, somewhere along the road, I became a believer. Some of us must see to believe :) My boys are finally old enough, or is it that I've finally been on this living education road long enough to trust that Charlotte Mason knew what she was talking about? Whatever it is, I love her. Our home and school are SO much more enjoyable because of the influence of her thoughts and experience.

I could say more, but time would fail me... so I'll just link to some highlights!

A quote from Elsie Kitching clearing up some misunderstandings of CM's use of Language Arts, applies in our day as well:

'I had a letter from the Headmistress of a large Secondary School the other day, in which she said, "I do not think there is any difference between our use of narration and yours, except that we have it by way of composition the next day, and you have it immediately." I could only answer that there was a very great deal of difference. Compositions may always be set on subjects, taken from the work, which have been narrated. This is not the repetition of the child's first effort of attention, but a fresh effort to use his mind in another way. The composition probably calls for a summary, or a portion of what the child has read, in depicting a character or in discussing the pros and cons of any point, with illustrations from the general reading of the week.

May I say that Miss Mason's Method is at present suffering from the prevalent idea that her Method is narration, and chiefly the narration of English. Her Method covers the whole of a child's school life, in fact the whole of his life; the habit of narration is the means by which we all make anything our own to which we give full attention.

It has been said, on the other hand, that the one effort of attention and the one narration implies that the child must never do anything a second time, which is again a very much mistaken interpretation of Miss Mason's teaching. The second time may, as I have said, come in the way of composition later on; it probably comes again in the end of term examination, and certainly, if the child is interested, frequently in after life. There are also in the upper Forms the interesting sidelights which one book or subject throws upon another, sometimes covering the same ground from another point of view.'

Friday, October 21, 2011

I never thought this day would come. Didn't I? Javen and Cullen are growing up. I cannot believe it. Or can I? This summer was one of marked change in them, and still more upon returning to Peru. I'm so impressed with them lately. It has been so fun to begin to share more 'grown up talk' with them over the last several months. I love it. But still, it makes me feel so old.

Ah, yes. Year 7.

This is the year that the transition becomes most noticeable, from elementary-ish school level to the higher studies. It is clearly reflected in their weekly checklist. They've got a lot of interesting things to do this year. They're excited, I'm excited; we are ALL excited.

Because I tend to think more clearly in ink or type, the plan of our first term follows. :)

This year we'll be continuing to concentrate on:The habit of attention. Strengthening the will.

"The student may be compelled by a necessity which he recognises, or stimulated by compitition: the latter is a poor broken reed, and the former he will rightly try to escape, unless he has somehow come to regard his study as a duty--the "something which has to be done, whether it pleases anybody or nobody":--otherwise he will detest and resist atoms and molecules as strenuously as accidence and syntax, or any other subject that can be laid before him."

Gospel of John. Commentary by VanRyn, or in the absence thereof, Tasker's.

Book of Centuries will accompany and mapwork is to follow the history readings: Birth of Britain, Ecclesiastical History of the English People, King Alfred, The Brendan Voyage. We'll use an ancient map of Brittania, a map showing Britain as part of the Roman Empire, and a modern map for Brendan Voyage and for Map Drill (specifically UK).

We will be using Ourselves as our own family book club reading. We will meet weekly to discuss (preferably over tea :). I'd like to do a map of Mansoul as we go along... we'll see.

Plutarch's Lives, Poplicola - read aloud (use Anne's AO study guide). I'll probably mostly look at the study guide myself and only address things if/when they come up. With discussion questions, I hope to help them to observe in order to outline a character sketch at the end of the term. **They REALLY love Plutarch!**

Literature for the first term includes: Watership Down, The Once and Future King, English Literature for Boys and Girls, Age of Chivalry, Ivanhoe

All readings will continue to be narrated as in all years of a CM education. This first term of y7, I will require weekly:

1 or 2 - written narrations from their choice of readings (gently edited);

1 - science lab book entry;

1 - 'This Day in History' narration/blog post (self-edited).

In addition to these, there will be one supervised copywork, several commonplace notebook entries, and one or two studied dictations. This pretty much means they will be writing every day, maybe more than once! This is a huge jump from last year.

Poetry: Daily reading from Lord, Alfred Tennyson and/or The Timeline of English Verse.Grammar of Poetry: one lesson/weekGrammar: one lesson/week using Our Mother Tongue.

Shakespeare: We'll first finish reading aloud Romeo & Juliet (by the boys' request) and continue with Henry V. I am encouraging them to come up with creative narrations of this reading, such as dramatized narration, comic strip, etc.

Nature Study - This year we'll be once again shooting for almost daily entries (minimum 2/week). This will depend greatly upon how often we make time to get outside... it being seriously more difficult here in Trujillo on the fourth floor! Entries may include any of the following: sketch an object w/ watercolors, monthly tree observations, maintaining bird & plant lists, recording phases of the moon, etc. Read: Lay of the Land. Read: an article outlining Nature Journals.

Composer Study: Mozart. All of his music can be found free online here. I have the Opal Wheeler book, which I plan to use as well as simply listening to the music whenever we think to.Artist Study: Fragonard. We'll use this book, read this biography and look at these prints.The Story of Painting.Music: Guitar and Singing practice, 15min/day (would love to pay for lessons?)

"It follows that we must look elsewhere to find grounds for preferring one study to another, or, indeed, for requiring the young to study anything beyond those elements which have become necessaries of life for civilized mankind. The only safe ground is educational value: the worth of study as the means of suppling and strengthening the intellect, over and above that moral value which belongs to all forms of work."

At home, we speak English and Spanish. The kids are learning Spanish without even trying. As for lessons, we do read to them in Spanish, and they narrate back. We sing in Spanish at home and at church. Our friends speak Spanish... etc. But apart from that, we are not pushing formal lessons at this time.

French: The Easy French
(Unfortunately, this will only happen sporadically; ideally, in Trujillo, as we have native-speaking French friends here. There is even a French Club! But, seeing as this first term, we will be concentrating on regaining our routine after furlough and before traveling again, we have to postpone the more intense study of French for another term at least.) In the meantime, I'm looking forward to looking over Anne's posts on their French studies.

"The language chosen should differ widely from the mother-tongue of the student, because sharp contrasts, as of black ink on white paper, more readily fix the attention and stick in the memory. It should also be at least equal to the mother-tongue as an instrument of thought, and it should be capable of stimulating the mind of the learner by introducing him to new ideas and unfamiliar ways of looking at the world around him. Finally, as it is not to be an end in itself, but a means of awakening the intellect to a consciousness of the delicate differences and shades of meaning conveyed by slight variations of expression, it should be a language which will not be required to be employed with the glibness of every-day intercourse."

Health: We will begin with Fearfully & Wonderfully Made when we arrive back in Tarapoto (the book is there!)

Another couple of things new and exciting to this year (y7) are the Commonplace Notebook and the Book of Centuries. Read this article for the merits of starting your own Commonplace Notebook, and here for your BoC.

Free Reads: 30min/day as a suggestion. Please plan accordingly to finish by end of year.

Notebooks:
Nature Journal
Copywork Notebook (technically, this is being phased out, soon to be replaced by Commonplace)
Written Narration Notebook - all written narrations, including 'This Week in History'
Commonplace Notebook - to take down memorable quotes, living ideas as stated by other authors.
Book of Centuries
Science lab book - pretty informal at this point.
Math Practice Book
Personal Journal (personal/spiritual, private)

Helpful Links:
This plan is based almost exclusively from the AO Year 7 recommendations: See here.
Would you like to see this plan for yourself? Download here.
I've created a handy-dandy checklist to hang on the fridge for AOy7, term 1. Download here.
Can I just say that I love how Naomi approaches scheduling?! Read about her schedule here.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

As I have been home from church today with a sickly little, I have had some extra time for scouring the web for school stuff this Sunday. I've gotten a LOT done, but in the last hour I got a little sidetracked looking again for nature study inspiration. Here are some links I (re)discovered featuring all kinds of ideas for adding interest to being outside...

Mind you, not everything mentioned in the following links is something we would do even if we could, but nonetheless there are many ideas to choose from.

"Careful observation enhances the student’s brain by increasing neural pathways. First, observation vastly increases knowledge about the subject being studied. It is only through looking that students will realize red maple leaves typically have three large points, two small points, and jagged edges. Observation also trains the mind to pay attention to and realize the importance of details."

Thursday, October 13, 2011

This summer I finally learned more about the Book of Centuries used in the CM schools (PNEU/PUS)! I've been longing to give it more study and thought for some time now. I'm so thankful for Laurie Bestvater's posts and talks on the subject. It has been so enlightening to see how Charlotte Mason unified and drew many aspects of education together using the Book of Centuries.

I wonder at how thought through the whole thing is too! Imagine how helpful to a child's mind (to MY mind and feeble memory) a book of centuries can be... it is intended that it accompany him or her throughout all areas of study. He is to draw illustrations of artifacts he sees (from museum visits, photographs, etc), fitting them into the time period in which they fit. He could plot the dates of paintings being studied in picture study. He could follow the progressive development of the bow and arrow over the ages, he can mark down the dates of monarchs, discoveries in the field of science, etc.

There are millions of ways to make a timeline and many ways to make a Book of Centuries. But the G.M. Bernau model is superior to other forms for a multitude of reasons.

Seeing an entire century on a page helps the child envision larger chunks of history at a time.

Value is placed on the child since it is he who decides what facts are important enough to include.

Because the book is tailored-fit by the child himself, it is a personal, lifelong source of delight.

How to get one!:
I'd LOVE to buy a really nice book like this leather bound one: $40 @ bookofcenturies.com
However, because I didn't buy it when we were back in the US, and we really can't wait any longer (and shipping rates to Peru have always been ridiculous), I've decided to buy a nice quality notebook here and make our own. I think also that making our own will help the boys to personally invest in the project.

The Book of Centuries is different than a timeline in its various forms. We use a communal timeline in our family for the younger years. Our plan is for each child to start their own BoC in AO year 6 or 7. We've taken our pattern from the following description:
Childlightusa - The Book of Centuries Revisited, part one & part two by Laurie Bestvater. The Book of Centuries by Bernau, a Parent's Review article

Here's how we arranged the pages:
Our notebook has 100 pages (as opposed to 96)
We left a cover page (1st sheet, front and back left blank)

[note: I've reserved multiple pages for each child's beautiful illustrations of the literal biblical 6 day account of Creation.

1 page for each day of creation, should leave sufficient room for their own creativity

(obviously this deters from the Bernau example as her first pages are reserved for the different evolutionary "ages" paleolithic, bronze age, iron age, etc.).]

same document: i3p01-p42pneu162.pdf (page 32)These two illustrations show how the blank/lined pages alternated.
You can see on how the drawing from the previous blank page is seen through the lined page.

[in the Bernau example and the BoC we see in the CM Digital Collection, the sheets seemed to alternate with lined and blank sheets so that the following would be slightly different, i.e., the back side of the lined sheets would also be lined.]

The 2 page spread for 1st century BC is followed immediately by a 2 page spread dedicated to the life of Christ (this is another deviation from the Bernau model).
The following 2 page spread would begin the 1st century AD, followed by the 2nd century AD, continuing on through the 21st century AD.

Following the 2 page spread for the 21st century, there is another blank 2 page spread (used as cover sheet to the appendix of sorts). The appendix will include, 6 - 1000 year @ a glace pages, and pages for maps. Following the cover page, the backside of which, the 2 page spread will be reserved for 1000 year @ a glace pages (6 of them representing 6000 years of world history). These pages will be divided into 10 rows of 10 columns. Each square representing a 10 year period. I don't know yet if I will follow through with this idea, but we will leave those pages blank for now with this in mind.

The rest of the blank pages from there to the back of the book are the pages reserved for maps of the child's own choosing, perhaps illustrating country boundaries or wars or marches, etc. The opposite pages would originally have been lined (same as the rest of the book) so as to include the child's short descriptions of her hand drawn maps.

I will update as our work progresses ;)

Notes if you plan to make your own:
Buying the book ready-made would be 100x easier... just sayin'.
Spiral binding is great for lying flat, but not as durable.
The notebook should have at least 96 sheets.
I prefer blank as opposed to lined because you can always draw lines in, but for the pages reserved for illustrations, lines are not lovely.
A medium/thick paper weight is nice so as to prevent ink leaking through from page to page.

"The Book of Centuries is to history what the nature notebook is to Nature Study." Laurie Bestvater

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

"Like the body, the mind has its appetite, the desire for knowledge. Again, like the body, the mind is able to receive and assimilate by its powers of attention and reflection. Like the body, again, the mind rejects insipid, dry, and unsavoury food, that is to say, its pabulum should be presented in a literary form. The mind is restricted to pabulum of one kind: it is nourished upon ideas and absorbs facts only as these are connected with the living ideas upon which they hang. Children educated upon some such lines as these respond in a surprising way, developing capacity, character, countenance, initiative and a sense of responsibility. They are, in fact, even as children, good and thoughtful citizens."

"Let me try to indicate some of the advantages of the theory I am urging––It fits all ages, even the seven ages of man! It satisfies brilliant children and discovers intelligence in the dull. It secures attention, interest, concentration, without effort on the part of teacher or taught.

Children, I think, all children, so taught express themselves in forcible and fluent English and use a copious vocabulary. An unusual degree of nervous stability is attained; also, intellectual occupation seems to make for chastity in thought and life. Parents become interested in the schoolroom work, and find their children 'delightful companions.' Children shew delight in books (other than story books) and manifest a genuine love of knowledge. Teachers are relieved from much of the labour of corrections. Children taught according to this method do exceptionally well at any school. It is unnecessary to stimulate these young scholars by marks, prizes, etc."

"There lives
No faculty within us which the Soul
Can spare: and humblest earthly weal demands
For dignity not placed beyond her reach
Zealous co-operation of all means
Given or required to raise us from the mire
And liberate our hearts from low pursuits
By gross utilities enslaved; we need
More of ennobling impulse from the past
If for the future aught of good must come."
[from Musings Near Aquapendente, by William Wordsworth]

Wordsworth is no doubt right. There is no faculty within the soul which can be spared in the great work of education; but then every faculty, or rather power, works to the one end if we make the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake the object of our educational efforts. We find children ready and eager for this labour and their accomplishment is surprising."

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

A child is a Person with the spiritual requirements and capabilities of a person.
Knowledge 'nourishes' the mind as food nourishes the body.

A child requires knowledge as much as he requires food.

He is furnished with the desire for Knowledge, i.e., Curiosity; with the power to apprehend Knowledge, that is, attention; with powers of mind to deal with Knowledge without aid from without––such as imagination, reflection, judgment; with innate interest in all Knowledge that he needs as a human being; with power to retain and communicate such Knowledge; and to assimilate all that is necessary to him.

He requires that in most cases Knowledge be communicated to him in literary form; and reproduces such Knowledge touched by his own personality; thus his reproduction becomes original.

The natural provision for the appropriation and assimilation of Knowledge is adequate and no stimulus is required; but some moral control is necessary to secure the act of attention; a child receives this in the certainty that he will be required to recount what he has read. Children have a right to the best we possess; therefore their lesson books should be, as far as possible, our best books.

They weary of talk, and questions bore them, so that they should be allowed to use their books for themselves; they will ask for such help as they wish for.

They require a great variety of knowledge,––about religion, the humanities, science, art; therefore, they should have a wide curriculum, with a definite amount of reading set for each short period of study.

The teacher affords direction, sympathy in studies, a vivifying word here and there, help in the making of experiments, etc., as well as the usual teaching in languages, experimental science and mathematics.

Pursued under these conditions, "Studies serve for delight," and the consciousness of daily progress is exhilarating to both teacher and children.